


A Difficult Thing to Express

by Meddalarksen



Series: 30 AU Challenge - Natasha [12]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Homeless, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-26 15:54:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13239075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meddalarksen/pseuds/Meddalarksen
Summary: Three years after they fled in the middle of the night to escape an uncertain future, Natasha and Clint are still running, still looking over their shoulders, but at least they're never without each other.





	A Difficult Thing to Express

**Author's Note:**

> A sequel of sorts to "Life's Severest Confidence."

Natasha crouched in the shadows of the abandoned warehouse building she and Clint had been squatting in. She rolled her hands together, shaping a carefully made stick of dynamite and adding a long fuse to it. Whoever it was that was hunting them, and they both suspected it was someone hired by Dr. Essex, was getting too close. Clint had gone ahead to search for a new place to go to ground and Natasha had assured him she’d put them off their trail.

 

She heard the door open, it had never been the entrance she and Clint used so the hinges had been left rusted and creaky. Drawing a deep breath she mimed striking a match and set it to the fuse before rolling the invisible explosive in the direction of the men who were entering. Counting silently the fifteen seconds she had, Natasha dodged out the, silent, loose window that she and Clint had jimmied open and then bolted down the block away from the warehouse.

 

She was a street over by the time she heard the explosion--bigger than a regular stick of dynamite probably would have been but she hadn’t ever been able to get that accurate no matter how much she researched. There was a three-tone whistle from up the block and she frowned as she turned in that direction, Clint waiting for her in the alley.

 

“You weren’t supposed to come back,” Natasha said.

 

He shrugged, “Come on. I found somewhere for us tonight and it’s nice.”

 

“We were meeting at the park.”

 

“Park’s in the wrong direction, figured we’d be better off going this way. You’ll need a ladder when we get there, though,” Clint said.

 

“Wrong direction?” Natasha’s frown deepened.

 

Clint nodded and offered her a fleeting grin before starting off and Natasha was forced to follow him. If she was going to start doubting him it should have been a lot sooner than three years after they fled the children’s home in the middle of the night.

 

She caught him by the arm when they reached the public library, closed for the night, “Clint what are we doing here?”

 

“I told you, just for tonight. We’ll find somewhere else tomorrow,” he said, pulling her around to the back of the library where there was a row of windows.

 

Natasha hesitated and then nodded, letting go of Clint’s arm. He offered her a grin and kicked off the ground, floating up to one of the windows and making quick work of jimmying it open. While he was doing that, Natasha carefully crafted the ladder she would need, leaning it against the building and carefully climbing it. Each rung was solid, pictured as sturdy wood until she was able to slip through the window, dropping down into the library.

 

Clint’s decision made sense from a practical standpoint. They had spent hours in the back of the library and knew it well enough to know how long they could stay, and where they could sleep that they wouldn’t be noticed. Natasha offered Clint a small smile as he landed next to her after closing the window, “Okay, good.”

 

Clint paused and then dug around in the bag he was carrying on his back, pulling out a packet of cooked nuts and held them out to Natasha, “Managed to nab these.”

 

Natasha hummed and crafted a pear, offering it to him in response. It wasn't much, the food she crafted only ever satisfied in the moment, but it was the thought that mattered. She opened the packet of nuts as she sat down under the window, setting the food between them and settling in for the night. They would worry about Essex and his men tomorrow. For now, they were safe.


End file.
